"Vision and speed" can best describe the running game of Mookie Murphy, RB out of Juan Diego High School (Utah). With his constant hand-timed 40-yard dash speed of 4.3 seconds, Murphy is now looking for ways to refine his game.

Murphy admits that he has work to do in his pass blocking abilities. With his upper body strength (300-pound bench max, 450-pound squat) Murphy should have no problem refining that aspect of his game. Murphy has also been training hard this summer and just finished up with 2-a day practices with his HS team at Juan Diego.

"I'm that type of player that I can either run or catch the ball," said Murphy when asked where he can fit in at Utah. Murphy made his verbal commitment to the Utes earlier this year. "I went to the red and white game, and I really though I could do something," said Murphy. "It was a week or two right after that that I committed."

When asked about how solid his commitment to Utah is Murphy responded, "It's pretty firm actually, it's real strong."

Now that Murphy has solidified his college choice of Utah he can focus on rushing for another 1,000-plus yard season starting this fall. Last year as a junior Murphy ran for 1,300 yards in only nine games that he played in and scored sixteen touchdowns.

One of the factors in helping Murphy make his commitment to Utah was his former teammate Marquis Wilson who now plays WR for Utah. Murphy also has a brother that was going to play for Utah before he had a career ending injury. In a way Murphy feels like he is carrying on the dream for his big brother by playing his college ball at the University of Utah.

With his speed and athleticism Murphy should fit in with a recruiting class that is shaping up nicely for 2006. So far Utah has received solid commitments from local players Pauli Latu (Hunter HS), Bubba Tuinei (Cottonwood HS), Nick Binks (Bountiful HS), Zane Taylor (Grand County HS), and out-of-state prospects Neli A'asa (Big Rapids, MI) and Whitley Fehoko (Farrington, HI).

Murphy has received letters from Oregon and BYU and an offer from Utah.